It's Always Darkest Before the Dawn
by The Blue Winged Angel
Summary: Sunpaw is a shapeshifter. Rainpaw is her unwanted twin sister. Twigpaw is the medicine cat apprentice. When a mysterious cat begins to murder members of their Clan, Sunpaw is recruited by the leader to solve the mystery (and she recruits Rainpaw and Twigpaw in turn). But is this nighttime monster all it seems to be... or something worse?
1. Prolouge

**A/N: Right ya'll! Welcome to my new story, adopted from Emberclaw. I'm not actually going to really work on it until I finish Sweet Cherries or Flying Free or possibly both. But still, I'm super super excited for it... It's going to be really good, I think.**

**Err... also, I know I disappeared for... I'm not even sure how long. My life is not exactly normal, so this is the busiest time of year for me. I'm also working on several original fiction stories. I barely had time to quickly scribble this down and post it, let alone update everything. So please forgive me. Hopefully I'll be back to fairly regular updates sometime in late September.**

Once upon a time the sky was full of dark gray storm clouds, so dark they could almost be black. It resembled the roof of a cave, almost, with the darkness and the ceiling-like effect of them. The sky growled down to the earth below, roaring like a lion as lightning and rain bolted at the ground. The rivers and streams were raging, long overfilled and the dirt had dissolved into mud as a low flood swept over the earth. Cats darted across the landscape, supporting their elders and carrying their kits.

A tall black she-cat whose muzzle was flecked with gray glanced back at their home, then to her bedraggled Clan. "We'll seek shelter in the Twolegplace!" she yowled. "Until the flood goes away."

Kits whimpered with fear. Apprentices whispered to one another, surely sharing stories of the treacherous, bloodthirsty cats that resided in the Twolegplace.

The long-furred silver tom glanced at his leader. "Rosepetal is kitting," he said quietly.

"Of course," the she-cat replied dryly. "Kits just choose the best times to come out, don't they? It's okay. She can make it until the Twolegplace, I'm sure."

The tom blinked, wondering if she was kidding. Kits came out on their own time- no cat could hope to control it. "We need to stop and allow her to kit."

There was a silence.

"Choose two or three warriors to be with you. Let her kit, but try to keep her moving towards Twolegplace if you can," the leader said.

The tom shrugged. He knew better than to argue- this was the closest he was going to get to permission to stop and let Rosepetal kit. He turned to the Clan. "Rosepetal, Bluespots, Snowfall, Hawkflight, come with me!" he barked. "We're going to slow down so Rosepetal can kit."

The cats he'd called slowed, staying close to one another, watching as the rest of the Clan disappeared into the gloom. Then the reddish she-cat cried out.

"Rosepetal!" the tabby cried. He turned back to his medicine cat. "Do something!"

The silver tom shrugged. "Just help me get her out in the open, Hawkflight."

"How will that help?!" Hawkflight hissed. "We should get under a tree!"

"Do you want to get struck by lightning?" the silver tom said condescendingly. The two of them glared at one another for a moment, before the tabby snapped his head away and grabbed Rosepetal by the scruff. The other cats moved forward to help move her as well.

A tiny kit slipped out onto the grass. The silver tom licked it roughly, until it started gasping in air. It let out a wailing cry.

"It's a she-cat. She has very strong lungs," the silver tom said to Rosepetal and Hawkflight. He pawed the kitten at the white tom. "Carry her. Try to keep her warm. We have to start moving again."

"It's okay," the bluish she-cat murmured at Rosepetal as she helped to pick her up again. "It'll be all right." The silver tom rolled his eyes.

"Unless she dies. Let's get moving!" he said.

The cats lifted Rosepetal as high as they could and started for the Twolegplace. "Come on.." the silver tom said through his mouthful of Rosepetal's fur. The group of cats had just barely made it across the Thunderpath and into the Twolegplace when Rosepetal screeched again. When the second kit arrived the whole group stared, even Rosepetal, for whom the pain was already fading into a distant memory.

"Amazing!" the white tom said through his mouthful of kit. "It's- it must be a sign from StarClan!"

"I've never seen anything like it," Hawkflight said.

"She's... wonderful..." Rosepetal breathed.

The silver tom shook his head. He started licking the kit, a little gentler than he had with the first. "Right. What will you name them?" he said.

"The first one will only be Rainkit," Rosepetal said dismissively. Her eyes were still on the second one.

The silver tom grabbed Rainkit from the white tom's jaws and placed her by her mother's side. Rainkit fell silent when she was placed next to her sister, sniffing at her, clearly confused.

"But the second... the second one... she will be Sunkit," Rosepetal breathed.

Sunkit flickered between the form of a kit and a fox cub for a moment. Then, as a kit, she looked up at her mother with a slight, angelic smile.

…

Once upon a time a light gray kitten with dark, silvery flecks across her fur glanced up at her mother. Beside her lay a sleeping, fluffy, white kitten, who looked as angelic and beautiful in sleep as she did awake. The light gray one sighed, and glanced around. She spied a cricket hopping around the edge of the nursery. Crouching down and shifting her weight to her back paws, she crept towards it, doing her best to be silent. Then she pounced on it, purring as she picked it up, instantly killing it.

"Mother! Mother!" Rainkit mumbled, turning to Rosepetal. "I caught-"

Her sister was up in a flash. She dashed forward and snatched the cricket out of her sister's mouth. "Mumsy, _I _caught a _cricket_!" she purred to their mother. Out of the corner of her eye, she shot Rainkit an apologetic look, which Rainkit didn't understand. _Why apologize when you just stole my chance to get just a tiny bit of attention?! _Rainkit thought. She watched Rosepetal fawn delightedly over Sunkit.

Rainkit sighed and burrowed into her nest again.

…

Once upon a time, a cat slipped away from its family, and ran through the forest, happy to feel the wind in its fur. But its fur was quickly caught in the thorns and thistles, and it slowed quickly, began walking with more purpose. It had a place to be. The Weak Point. Where its mentor could train it to be better and better.

The cat came to a large, upward-jutting rock in a clearing, and it clambered up the rock. At the top it turned its face towards the moon, its fur bathed in silvery moonlight.

"I'm here, ready for you," it said aloud.

Mist and dust coalesced into a shape; a light ginger she-cat.

The cat looked up at its mentor with glee. The first night they had met in its dreams; the second, the she-cat had guided it here. This was the third.

"Are we going to train?" the cat asked its mentor.

"I must outline the plan. Then we may train," the she-cat replied with a purr.

The cat nodded.

"Remember. Give into your feelings... your bloodlust. It will lead you into rages; but during these rages I will guide you, and make sure you destroy the impure. StarClan will be pleased," the she-cat said.

The cat nodded again, prideful of itself for having a StarClan cat to mentor it.

The she-cat stepped forward, nuzzling the cat gently; lovingly. "You are so good. You are StarClan's chosen one. And I will make you be great."

**A/N: Dear God, I love this story already.**

**Question of the Day: I've pretty much run out of Questions of the Days. And I don't always use them anyways. So forget this! Just review! ^-^**


	2. The First Death

**A/N: Well look who posted another chapter before she worked on anything else. Sorry guys, I couldn't help myself, I typed up this chapter and then I had to post it. Everything else will probably take a backseat to this story right now because I really love this and can't wait until it really gets going! With that, let the story begin.**

The fog was thick that morning, so thick you could almost choke on it. The grayness was confusing, yes, but it was beautiful, Aspenleaf reflected as he peered through it. The only problem was that you would never be able to see someone coming. Well, you might see a shadow approaching. But you wouldn't be sure until it was too late.

I'm a RiverClan warrior, he reminded himself. I'll be fine.

Besides, a cat from another Clan would never get across the river. And he wasn't scared that a Clanmate might attack him. Scare him to get a laugh, maybe, but not attack him. Aspenleaf trusted his Clanmates with his life. Especially Twigpaw, the medicine cat apprentice. Twigpaw was just so graceful and confident, and when Aspenleaf looked at him, he felt a sort of tug in his chest.

Aspenleaf flicked his ears. He could have sworn he heard a twig crack. It was probably a rabbit or something. Shaking his head, the black tom returned to his thoughts.

Although he would never tell anyone, sometimes Aspenleaf would step on a thorn or bump into something on purpose so he could go to the medicine den. Most of the time Cloudfeather would be there, rolling his eyes at Aspenleaf, but it was worth it for the times when Twigpaw was there, frowning in a concerned way, and then joking about how clumsy Aspenleaf had to be to be injured so often.

Aspenleaf sighed. It was a sigh of happiness, but also regret. He couldn't help but think there must be something wrong with him, that he was broken somehow. That this feeling for Twigpaw meant he was... different. He'd told his mother, once, but she'd just shaken her head and told him it was a phase.

There was another crack, closer this time, and Aspenleaf could have sworn he saw something dark, a shadow, move quickly between two shapes he assumed were bushes. He stood.

"I know you're there. Come out!" he called. Aspenleaf winced as he recognized the note of nervousness in his voice.

There wasn't a reply, no movement, just silence. He sat back down when, in the corner of his eye, Aspenleaf could have sworn he saw movement.

From another side, a shadow, cat-sized and shaped, approached him slowly. It was kind of small, but still scary.

"Lightstep, is that you? Are you trying to frighten me?" Aspenleaf said stubbornly. It kept coming towards him, and he saw a reflection, a glint of light, in one of its eyes. He took a step back. "I'm not scared!" he cried.

Just then, the cat emerged from the fog, grinning wickedly. Aspenleaf's eyes went wide in astonishment. But before he could react, the cat pounced.

There were two screeches. One was bloodthirsty and wild, the other was a scream of pain, crying out for help. Then blood was spilled on the lovely, foggy morning.

…

Rainkit woke after the screech.

Everyone else was already up, of course, except for Sunnypelt. But Sunnypelt was an elder. Rainkit was not. In fact, today, she was supposed to be an apprentice.

It was really typical, though. Rainkit was used to being inadequate, especially in comparison to her sister. But it wasn't like she didn't have ears, and it was right outside camp. In the end, Rainkit blamed the poppy seeds Cloudfeather had given her last night. She was up past moonhigh and snuck out to the medicine den, so Cloudfeather had taken pity on her. "I'm an insomniac, too," he'd said. Rainkit was glad to know that she wasn't alone in that respect.

But at this point, none of that really mattered, because, there was a cat dead. Rainkit had asked Flowerpaw, and Rosepetal's friend Jaguarheart, but Flowerpaw didn't know who it was and Jaguarheart wouldn't say. Finally Rainkit asked her sister.

"Sunkit?" Rainkit had asked, sort of timidly which was sort of stupid.

"Yeah?" Sunkit replied. She'd been talking to Puddlefeet, but turned right around to talk to Rainkit. The fog made her look mysterious, somehow, adding to her already-great beauty. Her golden eyes shimmered with concern, but also curiosity.

"Er, do you know who's... you know... dead?" Rainkit asked, hating herself for relying on her sister. She braced herself.

Sunkit pouted and fluffed up her white fur. "No! I totally asked at least a billion times but no one would tell me. It's stupid!" An alligator tear shimmered in her eye.

"You don't have to pretend to cry. I can't do anything about it," Rainkit reminded her sister, and instantly Sunkit was smiling widely again. "Anyways... have you thought of doing, you know, the thing, and getting a bird's-eye view?" Rainkit added.

"Oh wow, you're so smart, great idea!" Sunkit cheered.

Rainkit blinked in surprise. ..Smart? No one had ever told her she was smart before. Stupid, sometimes. "Th-thanks," she said.

Sunkit nodded, looking pleased, and then she shut her eyes tightly. Her fur changed to feathers. She somehow increased in size, and started supporting her weight on her back legs, which were now hairless, with big talons. Her forepaws melted into wings. She blinked at Rainkit in the form of a falcon. Then she flapped her great wings and took off into the sky.

Now Rainkit was just sitting there, watching the black speck in the cloudy sky that was her sister. The fog had cleared up, but the world was still sort of grayish looking.

Finally, Falcon-Sunkit swooped down and landed near where most of the apprentices and youngest warriors were gathered in the middle of camp. At this point the body, whoever it was, had been carefully moved to the medicine den.

Sunkit morphed back into herself. "I know who's dead!" she said triumphantly. Twigpaw whipped his head around.

"Who?!" he said excitedly.

Sunkit smiled sort of mischeviously. "I'll tell you if you tell me who your mysterious crush is..." she said quietly. Twigpaw stumbled backwards.

"I thought we agreed not to discuss that ever again..." he mumbled, blushing under his fur.

"Can I know who died?" Flowerpaw said, gently shoving past Twigpaw.

Sunkit grinned wider this time. "Of course, yes! You're my best friend. You're like the sister I never had."

Rainkit felt a pang of hurt in her chest, and another when the usually empathetic Flowerpaw just grinned, ignoring Rainkit. But she should have expected that, really. She was basically invisible.

Sunkit whispered the name of whoever was dead in Flowerpaw's ear.

Twigpaw moved towards Rainkit. "Your sister's a bit... much," he said.

"To say the very, very least," Rainkit said. Sunkit was more than 'a bit much.' She was an attention whore, the most loved-cat in the Clan. She was _special. _Rainkit, with her shyness and ugly gray fur and decided lack of StarClan-given powers, was exactly the opposite of special, a fact that Rosepetal and Hawkflight reminded her of every day.

Twigpaw looked at her out of the corner of his eye but said nothing.

"Who _is _your mysterious crush?" Rainkit said.

"Ugh..." Twigpaw groaned.

"You can't blame me for being curious," Rainkit argued. She fluffed up her fur, feeling a little defensive. "Besides the only she-cats near your age are your sister, Flowerpaw, and Sunkit. And you said Sunkit is 'a bit much'. So it's Flowerpaw."

Twigpaw didn't move, or even look at Rainkit, but he mumbled something that sounded sort of like, "Er, yeah, sure..."

There was silence. Then he said, "Don't tell your sister... any of this..."

Rainkit glanced at him to make sure he was serious. "We don't even talk except when we have to," she said. Twigpaw glanced at her, and he looked like... he looked like he pitied her.

_I don't need that. I'm doing fine without any help so far..._ Rainkit thought bitterly.

_Stop that. You're not starving or in slavery. Being ignored is way better than that, _she told herself.

Together, Lightstep and Batwings stumbled out of the medicine den. Lightstep was sobbing, her shoulders shaking, leaning against the older she-cat, while Batwings just stared straight ahead, looking shocked. Lightstep whispered something that sounded like, "Brother..."

Rainkit could only blink in shock.

Aspenleaf was Lightstep's brother. Although he was really clumsy and he ended up in the medicine den almost daily, and he didn't have the best instincts in the world, he was the sweetest cat in the whole Clan. His mentor had been Batwings, who had practically raised him since he and his sister were orphans. Even though he wasn't a senior warrior, Snowstar called on him for advice often, just because he was so good-hearted. Aspenleaf was the heart of the Clan. He _couldn't _be dead.

Snowstar emerged from the den, and with gentle nudges and soft words, he sat the two grieving she-cats beneath the Highbranch and jumped onto said branch himself. The Clan was already gathered, so the white tom just started talking. "Aspenleaf is dead," he began.

Rainkit bowed her head, a little grief clutching at her heart. She hadn't really known him since he only talked to Sunkit, but Aspenleaf didn't deserve an early death.

"Also," Snowstar continued, "Cloudfeather has determined that Aspenleaf was not attacked by an animal- it was a cat. Unfortunately the cat disguised their scent well. We could barely smell that they were RiverClan."

Lightstep's head shot up, her eyes red with tears. "Who did this to Aspenleaf? _Which one of you mangy unfaithful half-breeds did this to my brother_?!" There was silence as she looked back and forth. The sadness on her face was so painful Rainkit had to look away. "First my parents, then my brother..." she hissed. Rainkit choked back a tear. That hit painfully close to home. A few fox-lengths away, she spotted Sunkit crying as well. Rosepetal was grooming away the tears, and Hawkflight had draped his tail comfortingly over Sunkit's shoulders.

"Despite Aspenleaf's untimely death, we must continue to add to the Clan," Snowstar said. "Sunkit, come forward."

Sunkit walked toward the Highbranch, not bothering to wipe her few tears. They made her look better, anyways.

"From this day forward, until she becomes a warrior, this cat will be known as Sunpaw. Heronswoop, you're ready for your third apprentice. Pass on your skill and honor to Sunpaw," Snowstar commanded. Heronswoop trotted forward and touched Sunpaw's nose to his.

Snowstar nodded at Rainkit. She stepped forward, hoping that was her cue.

"Until she becomes a warrior, this kit will be known as Rainpaw. Jaguarheart, pass on your bravery and determination to her," Snowstar said.

Rainpaw closed her eyes in shock. She had been expecting something like this, but not this bad. Heronswoop was the Clan's deputy, and its most senior warrior. Of course Sunpaw would get him as her mentor. But Jaguarheart was a former kittypet. Although she was sort of brave, she could only barely hunt, knew only basic fighting skills, and didn't know how to swim at all. It was so unfair!

"The Clan is dismissed," Snowstar said. Jaguarheart started to say something to Rainpaw, probably about how excited she was to be mentoring and blah blah blah, but Snowstar spoke again. "Sunpaw. Rainpaw. Please join me in my den."

Sunpaw bounded over to the leader's den, grinning.

Rainpaw looked up at Jaguarheart. Like or not, the leopard-patterned queen was her mentor now, so Rainpaw had to ask permission for this stuff.

"Go ahead. I'm sure he just wants to talk to you about being careful, since we know there's a killer on the loose," Jaguarheart said solemnly. Rainpaw nodded, and half nervously and half excitedly, walked towards Snowstar's den.

"I apologize for asking you here, Rainpaw, I needed to talk to your sister and didn't want any cat to get suspicious," Snowstar said.

"Sunpaw has shapeshifting powers granted to her by StarClan. Nothing would be unusual or suspicious, at this point," Rainpaw said dryly. Snowstar looked surprised, probably that Rainpaw said things other than 'yes' and 'sorry.'

"Anyways, Sunpaw, I want you to investigate the murders. Heronswoop has been informed that you are doing this, and it will count as training. You can recruit one or two other cats to help; the cats they answer to will be told as well. I don't want this to leave this den," Snowstar said calmly, dragging a claw through the dirt. He nodded at Rainpaw. "Since your sister has heard all of this, I suggest you recruit her."

Sunpaw's ears flattened slowly flattened and she started frowning as Snowstar made his speech.

"I know it's scary," Snowstar said. "But you have to do this for the good of the Clan. I've asked Cloudfeather to store Aspenleaf's body in an abandoned fox set in our territory, and the bodies of any other victims will be there as well. You can go from there. Do go find those who will help you, now?" The tall white tom turned away, and Sunpaw and Rainpaw left the den.

"You're smart, and not pretty enough to compete with me," Sunpaw said. "You're recruited."

Rainpaw stared at her sister. She was calling her smart again... and implying attractiveness. What, did she eat some Twoleg rubbish that made her go mad in the head? The Sunpaw she knew would never say things like that.

Sunpaw was staring at her.

"Err... I missed that?" Rainpaw said.

"Ugh. Who do you think we should also recruit to help us? You might be smart, and I might be a great, cute, nice, powerful leader, but we're not enough to do this on our own," Sunpaw said.

Rainpaw blinked. She spotted Twigpaw coming out of the medicine den holding a bunch of damp moss. "Twigpaw," she suggested aloud. Sunpaw looked at her skeptically. "Look, he knows healing and some fighting and he's older, for if we get into trouble, and he can help us examine the bodies," Rainpaw said. "Besides, it's pretty clear you like him, and what's a stereotypical superhero-love interest-extra trio without the love interest?" she added, in the hopes of getting her sister to agree.

Sunpaw shrugged. "You're right, he's super cute. I'm going to get him to become my mate one day, you know." And she bounced off towards Twigpaw. They had a short conversation, and by what Rainpaw could tell Sunpaw basically repeated Rainpaw's speech to the brown tom.

Sunpaw bounded back to Rainpaw. "He's in! I knew he liked me," Sunpaw crowed.

Rainpaw rolled her eyes, and scanning the camp, spotted Jaguarheart. She trotted toward her mentor- after all, there was training to be done.

**A/N: This was super long when I typed it up in OpenOffice. Sorry for all the scrolling you had to do XD**

**I seriously love Aspenleaf, he's so adorablr. I'm sad I killed him. Fun fact: he was originally going to be straight. Then I looked at the allegiances and it turned out Twigpaw was a boy and I was like ahhhhh what the heck.**

**Review replies:**

**Catqstar (Can I call you Cat? OpenOffice hates your name XD): Yeah Sunpaw is quite the brat. But I kinda like her. Of course, that's because I already know everything :P**

**Princesslolitatheorca654 (It hates your name too. It'll probably hate everyone's names, actually): Thanks!**

**Potatotheumbreon: :P**

**Lolkat123: Thank you! By suspicious do you mean 'a jerk' or 'the big bad'?**

**Emberclaw: Great, thank you! I thought it would be too different from the original idea so I'm glad you like it :D**

**Flutterby000: Thanks!**

**I'm glad this received such a good reception. Please review this chapter as well, and any advice would be great! :D**


	3. Investigating

**A/N: Trigger warning? This chapter has the first, possibly only time Rainpaw interacts with her parents in this story. It's probably written badly and unrealistically, but, I mean, I don't want anyone to freak out or something. :/ I don't know.**

**Anyways, thanks so much for all the reviews, favs, and follows so far! I forget to thank you guys a lot but you're really great. :)**

Bluespots didn't mind the chilly nights the lush, foggy green-leaf had given way to. With the crunchy leaves beginning to fall to the ground, the entire thing just had a crisp feeling about it, a feeling she had loved since she experienced her first day of leaf-fall. Despite her bones feeling more and more achey each night, she would never stop loving this season. Beside her, her mate, Heronswoop, shifted in his sleep, snoring slightly. The bluish she-cat gave him a reassuring lick on his ear and stood up. She wanted to walk through her forest.

She slipped outside the warriors' den and through the camp. A few crunchy, brown leaves littered the ground here and there, but mostly the camp was surrounded by willow trees, so there weren't a lot. Only deeper into the territory would the leaves be thick enough that you couldn't see the ground, and even then you had to wait a moon or two.

Bluespots waded through the shallowest part of the river. There were a lot of fish out right now but that wasn't what she was here for. She padded through the reeds into the tall grass. It rose above her head; most of the territory was like that, except for the occasional willow, aspen, or ash tree.

Soon she stumbled upon the trail from the fishing grounds to the training ground; she started to follow it towards the training ground, comfortable feeling the footprints beneath her pads which had been there for generations, pushed into the ground by her warrior ancestors. When Bluespots arrived at the clearing she laid down, tail tucked tightly around her, and gazed at the stars. "I am so lucky," she breathed to herself. And really, she was: A great, powerful Clan, a life of peace, a faithful mate and a talented daughter.

Behind her, a reed snapped; a curse was hissed in a quiet, smooth voice.

Bluespots turned. Behind her stood a light-colored cat. She couldn't quite see who it was, but assumed that it was a RiverClan cat. "Couldn't sleep? Come here," she said kindly to the cat. The cat didn't move.

Bluespots flattened her ears in confusion; then terror as she remembered poor Aspenleaf's fate. "I-I know who you are," she lied bravely. "I'm going to go running back to camp and tell them all who you are."

"All the more reason to kill you now instead of playing games," the cat replied. Bluespots stood up and started to turn, but it was too late. She was dead before she had a chance to scream.

The cat slunk back through the grass, leaving her body, determined to get back to the Weak Spot and then home, before sunrise.

…

Rainpaw's whole body was tense in anticipation and concentration. A school of fish was hanging out in the deep riverbed below her; they were silvery, darting in between each other and occasionally flashing colors, which led her to believe they were rainbow trout, a fish rarely caught this high up the river. Usually you had to travel to the gorge to get them. In just a few moments, a large stick bobbing down the river would scare them right into Rainpaw's claws. Behind her, Sunpaw and Flowerpaw were talking, not paying attention, so this catch would be Rainpaw's alone.

_I'm only an apprentice for a quarter moon and I get a brilliant catch like this, _Rainpaw thought happily.

Rainpaw let her concentration slip for a second as she imagined catching the fish. She would get approval from Jaguarheart, from the other apprentices- maybe even her parents. No one else had caught a rainbow trout this far upstream. For once, _Rainpaw _would be better at something, not Sunpaw.

As she returned her attention to the fish, Rainpaw felt paws on her back; there was a shove and an 'unh' sound and she slipped through the mud into the river, straight into the school of fish. They were scared, scattering in all directions, though most towards where Rainpaw had just been crouching. Right there, a fluffy white paw dipped into the water, scooping up fish. Sunpaw. Heart sinking, Rainpaw quickly dodged between the currents, sensing her best way up, and surfaced. Most everyone was gathered around Sunpaw, who was holding two wriggling rainbow trout.

Rainpaw climbed out of the water. Flowerpaw gave her an innocent look, but mischief was dancing in her eyes. "Did you slip?" she said.

"I was shoved," Rainpaw spat. Flowerpaw seemed a bit taken aback by her hostility, but she turned back to Sunpaw. After a few seconds of washing most of the water off her paws, Rainpaw did too.

"Well, with Sunpaw's trout, that'll be enough to feed half the Clan," said Heronswoop, sounding pleased. "How about we head up to the training ground and you two teach your apprentices land hunting, and me and Sunpaw do a little battle training? She's already very light on her paws," he added in explanation. Jaguarheart and Vipersong readily agreed, and the party headed up the path to the training ground.

About halfway there, Sunpaw announced, "Something stinks." Her face looked sort of odd. Maybe she just looked disgusted.

Rainpaw couldn't help but hiss to herself, "_You do,_" in reaction to her sister's comment, and she felt an immature satisfaction. Then she sniffed the air- her sister was right. Something did smell really foul. It was cold and heavy, sort of like crowfood but different. She saw Vipersong and Heronswoop exchange worried looks, although her own mentor seemed to have no idea what was going on.

Flowerpaw was the first to burst in on the training ground. She made a strangled yelping noise, and her eyes bugged out and she froze on the spot.

Heronswoop shoved past her and had a similar reaction.

Rainpaw and the rest of the group made their way around them, and Rainpaw threw up a little in her mouth. There was the body of a cat, covered in flies. Barely recognizable due to the writhing mass of bugs on her body.

Heronswoop burst into tears. "Bluespots! No, I thought you were on the dawn patrol- I didn't know you were dead!" He collapsed into silent sobbing. Jaguarheart went to comfort him, and Vipersong and Flowerpaw started forward to try to pick up the body.

Rainpaw sidled over to her sister, taking care not to look at the body again. "We need to investigate." Sunpaw opened her mouth but Rainpaw cut her off. "Not start interviewing Flowerpaw and then you two start talking about your mentors, and toms, and things, like last time. Investigating. We need to stop this killer."

Sunpaw closed her mouth, and a determined look came onto her face. "You're right," she said. "Meet me here tomorrow at dusk."

"What about Twigpaw?" Rainpaw said, not bothering to question her sister's choice of time. Sunpaw acted like she lived in a story, so why not play along? It was how she usually dealt with her sister.

"I'll tell him what's up," Sunpaw said.

…

The sky was turning a grayish lavender when Rainpaw arrived at the training ground. Buttery yellow rays of light still reached up into the sky where the sun had just set, but other than that it was quickly turning into nighttime.

Despite that, Rainpaw was the first to arrive. She briefly wondered if she'd gotten her sister's instructions wrong, but after a minute or two Sunpaw silently slipped out of the tall grass. Her golden eyes flashed, and her white fur looked darker but still beautiful in the gathering darkness.

Rainpaw glanced down at her own gray fur, which had those weird darker specks and still had kit-fluff. Why couldn't she look more like her sister?

"I can see you two are having a great conversation," Twigpaw's voice came from through the grass. Rainpaw's stomach lurched, and she and Sunpaw both jumped, and whirled to look at him.

He'd poked his head into the training grounds, eyes wide. "Sorry! I didn't mean to startle you," he said.

Sunpaw stepped forward, "No, it's fine, I wasn't paying attention," she said with a smile.

Twigpaw emerged all the way from the grass. "So why are we here? At night?" he asked.

Sunpaw shrugged. "Seemed like the right thing to do."

Rainpaw cut in. "Well," she began, "Firstly, there should be some evidence here, since this is the scene of the murder."

Twigpaw and Sunpaw both glanced at her, surprised.

"Well, yeah," Twigpaw said.

"Obviously," Sunpaw added quickly.

"I wasn't done," Rainpaw said, although she was blushing a little. She wasn't used to being listened to. "The other thing is that when it's not night cats will be here- we won't be able to investigate."

Twigpaw nodded. "Oh. Thanks, Rainpaw."

Sunpaw stared for a moment, eyes wide. Then she turned to Twigpaw with a grin. "This is why I hired her as the smart one of our group," she said.

Rainpaw's blush intensified. Her sister had to be going crazy. Rainpaw wasn't even 'smart,' but Sunpaw kept complimenting her lately.

Sunpaw turned and padded to where Bluespots' body had been. "Sniff around," she said, and she put her nose to the ground.

Rainpaw obediently started sniffing everything, but she didn't pick up any scent but the death- and fear-scent that was still hanging in the air, some mint, and Bluespots.

A few minutes later, the three of them lifted their heads and looked at each other. "Nothing weird for me, you guys?" Sunpaw said uncertainly.

"Nope," Twigpaw said.

"Nothing but some mint," Rainpaw said. "And the death-scent and stuff."

"Mint?" Twigpaw said slowly, then his amber eyes lit up. "That's it! Mint! The murderer was disguising their scent!"

"So it could have been any cat, from any Clan, or possibly a rogue or loner, or even a kittypet," Rainpaw said, her heart sinking. This was looking more and more impossible by the second.

"Nope. Neither of you has been anywhere near the other Clans' territories before, have you?" he said. Rainpaw shook her head. Sunpaw hesitated, then shook hers as well. "Here's the thing," Twigpaw continued. "The other Clans reek. Even when they disguise their scent, you can still pick up a little bit of it, unless they're coated in mud or they've just been through water, and even then they'll smell like mud or water, which we didn't smell. ShadowClan is like- sort of earthy, and also a little like crowfood, but also like pine, which smells okay. ThunderClan smells like rotting leaves and squirrels, only intensified a lot."

"What about WindClan?" Sunpaw said, curiousness in her voice.

"They're different," Twigpaw explained. "They smell sort of like rabbits, which I can't describe, but also like heather, and the wind. But they reek a lot less than the others. They're probably the only Clan that _could _disguise their scent. If the murderer is from another Clan, they're from WindClan."

"That means only, like, about half of the suspects we had before!" Sunpaw cried happily. Then she stopped. "Wait, what do you mean _if _they're from another Clan?"

"Um," Rainpaw said, and Twigpaw's and Sunpaw's eyes were both on her. She blushed again, self-conscious. "I think he means that they could still be rogues or loners or kittypets," she said slowly. "But he also means- he also means they could be RiverClan."

"But... no RiverClan cat would murder their Clanmates, would they?" Sunpaw said nervously.

"There was a story about that. Kitefeather of LeopardClan started killing his Clanmates and no cat realized until a LionClan patrol caught him in the act, because all of LeopardClan thought that no cat would murder his Clanmates," Rainpaw said.

"How do you know that?" Twigpaw said, looking genuinely curious. "You can't have been apprentice long enough to get punished and spend a day with the elders, can you?"

"I told Jaguarheart about how Flowerpaw shoved me into the water. She said I should have paid better attention so close to the water and made me go wait on the elders," Rainpaw grumbled, turning her head away and flattening her ears. Her life was so unfair it made her want to scream.

Sunpaw had moved away- Rainpaw had to squint to see her- but she made a small squeaking noise now. "I think I stepped in blood," she said. She was making a brave try at sounding careless, but her voice shook.

Twigpaw turned on one paw and bounded over to her. He sniffed at the thing she'd stepped in as Rainpaw quickly padded up. "It's just water. It's raining a bit, I think," he said.

As he said that, rain started falling from the sky fairly fast. "Yeah, probably," Rainpaw snarked. Then a thought occurred to her.

"There might be pawprints leading into the training grounds- quick, look for them before the rain turns them into mud!" she said. She started squinting at the ground through the darkness and rain, and saw Twigpaw and Sunpaw do the same, but either the ground was already mud, or there were no footprints. They looked for a good minute, but by then, the ground was soft beneath their paws.

"Good call with the footprints, Rainpaw," Twigpaw said, and she flattened her ears and blushed again. It was going to take a while to get used to this.

"We'd better get back to camp. Mom and Dad are going to freak when they realize we were out," Sunpaw said.

"I'm coming in the back way," Twigpaw said, referencing the tunnel that led straight into the medicine den, "but I suppose you can't since then Cloudfeather would wake up and get suspicious."

Rainpaw and Sunpaw nodded.

"We'd better get going, then," Sunpaw said, and the three cats started towards camp.

…

Rainpaw and Sunpaw had to pass by the warriors' den to get to the apprentices' den. Rosepetal was sitting in the entrance of the warriors' den with a stern look on her face. When they passed, she beckoned them in. Rainpaw glanced at her sister, but Sunpaw just walked towards the warriors' den, and Rainpaw was forced to follow.

"What were you thinking? Wandering around at night in the rain?" Rosepetal hissed, though her words were only directed at Sunpaw. "I thought you were a good girl, Sunpaw. I thought you weren't like your bratty sister." Rainpaw flattened her ears and lowered her head. Her heart hurt.

"I'm sorry, Mom," Sunpaw said, ears flattened, and she looked ashamed.

Rosepetal's gaze softened. "It's okay, sweetie. I just love you and want you to be okay," she said, and she licked Sunpaw on the head and permitted her to go to bed. Then she turned to Rainpaw.

For a while they just sat there.

Finally Rainpaw whispered hopefully, "Can I go to bed too?"

"You didn't want to go to bed when you forced Sunpaw to go out at _night _in the _rain _when there's a _killer on the loose_," Rosepetal hissed. "Sunpaw could have been hurt."

Rainpaw's whole body shook with hurt. She choked back her tears.

_It's always about Sunpaw, never me. I just want them to love me, _she thought bitterly.

"Just don't tell Dad, please," Rainpaw whispered.

Rosepetal scowled. "You know, Rainpaw, I think," she said, "I think I should tell your father." She turned into the den and said softly, "Hawkflight. Your daughter has gone and put Sunpaw in danger."

"That useless pile of fox-dung-" Hawkflight grumbled, sitting up.

For the next five minutes they took turns insulting her (mostly Hawkflight) and berating her (mostly Rosepetal). Rainpaw sat there shivering, cold and wet and wishing she could curl up in her nest. Finally, when they stopped for a moment to talk to each other, Rainpaw rushed back to the apprentice's den and curled in a ball, wishing she could be anywhere but RiverClan.

**A/N: Am I overdoing it? I feel like I'm overdoing it. Like, just this entire story. I'm overdoing the whole thing.**

**Review replies:**

**Snowpetal of ColdClan: Yes, yes I have! I love that song!**

**Cat: Yay! :) And yeah, wouldn't it be cool if they had them in the original series? Or if one of the Three was a shapeshifter? :D**

**Emberclaw: Haha, it's okay. Thanks! :)**

**Potatotheumbreon: Lool :P**


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